Gwaltney, Jack M.

Experimental rhinovirus infection in volunteers has provided important new knowledge on the pathogenesis and treatment of rhinovirus colds. However, the clinical parameters of this illness have not been well defined. In the current study, data on 151 young adult subjects in 14 previous studies were used to determine representative values for nasal mucus weights and total and nasal symptom scores for the rhinovirus challenge model. The mean ± SD total mucus weight for 5 days was 22.6 g ± 22.2 and the mean total symptom score was 16.4 ± 12.7. By univariate analysis, the 5-day total mucus weight correlated with the 5-day score for rhinorrhea, nasal obstruction, and total symptoms, but by multivariate analysis the correlation was primarily with rhinorrhea. Similar findings were seen using daily mean values. The information obtained from this analysis will be useful in planning and interpreting the results of future experiments using the rhinovirus model.